How Did You Begin?

goldfinches

@Davesnave - I do miss Geoff Hamilton such a lot and always snap up any of his books that I see in charity shops because they're always worth reading.
That climbing aconite looks fantastic, I've put that on my wish list, although I do think they should have said how poisonous aconites are.

Davesnave

goldfinches said:

That climbing aconite looks fantastic, I've put that on my wish list, although I do think they should have said how poisonous aconites are.

It's in Harry Potter so that should cover those under 40, but of course the programme went out years before him and we have to allow for Muggles. Was that a youthful Roy Lancaster doing the presenting there?

quirkydeptless

I'd always thought of gardening as a chore until I got my first house with a little garden. It has 3 fruit trees in it (cherry, plum and apple), an enormous Ivy monster that had taken of the backend of the garden, and the rest of it was over-run with weeds wildflowers.
First surprise was when some pears grew on the Ivy monster. I began cutting it back and found a 4th fruit tree 

Lockdown gave me time to drive back the Ivy monster and have a good dig at the w**ds, and I cleared out a flower bed. Well there must have been some flowers in it once, as I found some identity sticks. 

So now I had a fresh, cleaned flower bed (or cat toilet), but what to put in it.?

An MSE offer of 100 Gladioli bulbs for £10 had appeared in my inbox and so I thought, play the numbers and see how many turn up. About 30% of them came up last year and they are starting to appear again this year.

As for the rest of it, I covered it in Wildflower Meadow and Woodland Shade Mix seeds and let them do their stuff.
I also created a feeding area for the birds along with a bird bath.

Also add stuff that comes along, like some crocus bulbs my neighbour gave me, some sunflower seeds my sister gave me, and an nice Azalea via an MSE offer. They will have to fight for their place with everything else!

So not a neatly manicured garden, just green chaos and random flowers. The birds and the bees love it 

Farway

Now I am really old, forget Geoff H, young upstart, I cut my teeth when gardening was black & white and you wore shirt & tie, if the going got tough, like double digging clay, then you were allowed to roll up your sleeves and put your fag down, this clip is young Percy Thrower who eventually got sacked by BBC for owning a garden centre [conflict of interest], but my real start was with Mr Digwell in the Mirror, he along with Garth & Jane were part of my formative years, I probably needed therapy

elsien

Back to the OP if you want some good starter guides, the Expert series by DG Hessayon are good. Out of date in terms of new variaties but the basics are still there. Often to be found lurking on charity shop shelves. 

goldfinches

elsien said:

Back to the OP if you want some good starter guides, the Expert series by DG Hessayon are good. Out of date in terms of new variaties but the basics are still there. Often to be found lurking on charity shop shelves. 

As a connoisseur of charity shops I can confirm this. I bought the one about hard landscaping last year myself for £1.50 from a chazza and it is full of useful information that I hope to get the chance to employ.

Murphybear

Apodemus said:

Murphybear said:

Thompson and Morgan and good for plants and have lots of excellent advice.

Our views on T&M clearly differ!  I'd say: "Thompson and Morgan used to be good for plants and used to have lots of excellent advice but were taken over and now have really poor customer service."      https://www.gardencentreretail.com/acquisition-thompson-morgan-bvg-group/

I joined their gardening club and got sent some free geraniums.  They looked a bit sad when I potted the plugs so I emailed them.  I immediately got a response apologising and as they had no more stock they sent me a voucher for £15.  Not bad for the £4.99 it cost me!  That’s what I call brilliant customer service.  The sad geraniums had a new lease of life and are now thriving.  

The rest of the plants I’ve got from them have been very good